256 
HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
forests, or paying unwelcome visits to their former dwellings, 
and disturbing their survivors. 
All possible means are employed by the friends of those 
who die in battle, or during a campaign, to ascertain the 
fact, and then to have the bones of the deceased carefully 
brought home for interment. Hence, on setting off to war, 
it is customary for friends to give a mutual pledge, that, 
should one of them die, the survivor will endeavour to 
obtain, and convey the bones of the deceased to his 
relations. In such cases, they carefully scrape off every 
particle of flesh from the bones, bring the latter with great 
labour and fatigue from the most distant parts of the 
country, and deliver them with great care to the friends of 
the deceased, by whom they are received with all the 
expressions of mourning that attend those who die in the 
midst of their families; the bones are afterwards buried with 
the usual funeral solemnities. 
The Malagasy have also a custom of erecting stone 
pillars, of considerable height, as memorials, though with¬ 
out any kind of mark or inscription on them. These are 
called fahatsiarovana, “ causing to remember.” A name 
is also given them derived from their position, mitsan- 
gambato, Cfi an elevated stone.” No particular intention is 
proposed by these, beyond that of perpetuating the memory 
of the fact, that such an one (known to his family) erected 
such a stone to commemorate himself. 
During the latter years of the Mission in the island, 
several of the native Christians were removed by death, 
and were interred with the rites of Christian burial; the 
Missionaries attending, and engaging in services resembling 
those performed on similar occasions in England. 
